Grateful Thursdays/Fridays: "Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.” Rainer Maria Rilke

I really believe that Spring has returned, even though we had ten minutes of flurries yesterday and some more flurries are forecast for next week.  But the trees have a reddish cast, and look like they are ready to bud....

I am sorry to be gone so long...  

The GarnStudio Drops jacket is finished.  I blocked it before sewing together but did not block the seams yet.  It has snaps instead of button holes and the jury is still out on the buttons. 

I knitted it according to the pattern but with a couple of changes. I substituted the double moss stitch on the hem instead of the rib that the pattern suggested.  I haven’t decided what I am doing with the collar.  I knitted it a little longer and it is supposed to be tacked down - the jury is still out on that one.  The buttons that I am considering aren’t really buttons - but since I have snaps that should not be a problem - here is a link to what I am contemplating for the buttons.  

I used Garnstudio yarn Alaska.  The pattern is written for a bulky or a worsted/Aran weight.  The Alaska yarn worked perfectly for the lighter weight pattern.  I love the yarn - it has a bit of a heathered look. It is slightly scratchy but I think this jacket design needs something with substance - something not too drapey.  I think that the yarn almost needs to be scratchy in order to have some substance.  The Alaska works perfectly in that respect. 

The jacket fits well and I am very happy with it.  So happy that I am about to order more Alaska yarn to make it in a different color.  Hope to post pictures (with buttons attached) very soon!  

I am playing the harp for a fund raising event on March 14.  I consider it somewhat of a “long” event, and I have been spending huge amounts of time practicing.  I have prepared some new music and during the next two weeks I need to polish/perfect everything that I will be playing.  Many of the pieces are related to spring - I’ve promised to post some music, and hope to do so very soon.  One of the pieces I have prepared is Garden Psalm by Kathryn Cater. It is so glorious...and I am grateful that Kathryn Cater recorded it on Youtube...it reminds me that spring will be here very shortly. 

The Elly Sienkiewicz/Sharon Schamber applique workshop:   It snowed twice during the workshop. The first day it snowed, there was a forty car pile up right outside of Williamsburg at 8 AM - I would have been in that traffic had I tried to go that day.  Am so grateful that I did not try.  On the other days that it did not snow, I was feeling “under the weather” and could not go.  I was disappointed about how things evolved but was very pleasantly surprised when I received a wonderful package from the workshop.   

Elly Siekiewicz is the goddess of Baltimore Album quilts.  She’s written 20 fantastic books about them - and the quality of the historical research is outstanding.  Her workshops are like stepping back in time. Elly recently made two DVDs - I have both and they are exceptionally well done. If you have not done needle turn applique, I recommend her first book and her first DVD. They are both incredible.  I am very grateful that I have had the opportunity to attend her workshops in the past.  Having access to Elly via a DVD is frosting on the cake - or in quilting terms, like silk thread and good light.

Although I could not attend the workshop, I am finishing a Baltimore Album quilt that I started, ahem, fifteen years ago.  I really hope that I can get it ready to go to the “quilter” within the next two weeks.   I promise to post a picture tomorrow.   Don’t expect a huge quilt. I have cannibalized blocks from this quilt for other quilts.   Rather than trying to make it larger, I am going with the blocks already complete - and I have the minimum number for a very small quilt.  The goal is to finish it...very soon!  But I do know why I stopped working on this quilt - one of the blocks is a cornucopia filled with fruit - it was three quarters complete and it became the emotional anchor to the quilt.  I just did not like the block - so it sat - for fifteen years.  In the past week I totally changed the block - it is now a cornucopia with flowers - and it reminds me of spring!

 

Comments

[Kym]

Thank you for sharing the youtube video of Garden Psalm. Just lovely! The music; the setting. So inviting and warm -- especially on a cold, dreary winter day. (Spring is still a long way off in my neck of the woods.)

Your jacket looks wonderful! The "buttons" will be perfect. I love the tree. Can't wait to see the finished product -- and hope you'll include a photo of you modeling the jacket. I've long been interested in that pattern. It says a lot that you are going to make it again! :-)

[juniperjune]

Oh wow, I didn't know you played the harp! That's great; it's an instrument I've always wanted to learn. What a lovely piece! (And the jacket looks great; I really like that color.)